There’s a newer mammogram in town, and it’s going with the wave of the future by going digital.  Think of it as the difference between a digital camera and a camera that still uses good old rolls of film sort of.  The “old” way of doing mammograms is with traditional film, and the new way is to digitally snapshot the breast tissue and look for any areas that may be cancerous or at least may warrant a second look. 

Medical professionals are saying that digital mammograms may be a better choice for younger women, because it has been found that the digital way is better at picking up lumps and masses in younger women who have denser breast tissue to penetrate and find problem areas.  It’s not just limited to younger women, because some older women may also maintain their breast density beyond the traditional age for losing it, and they would also be better candidates for the digital type of mammogram. 

The cool thing about digital mammograms also is that, although they are more expensive to administer than traditional mammograms, they also have the perks of being able to be stored electronically and sent electronically, as well as enhanced and explored through a better technique, electronically of course. 

Although the digital format is much more costly, we all know that things that start off costly usually end up going lower in price, at least in the consumer world they do.  They really may be helpful for women with more dense breast tissue as well, since they may have had important things that could have been missed during a regular mammogram, and women with more dense breast tissue do get breast cancer more easily it has been found, so this benefits the higher risk segment of the female population to begin with. 

I did not see whether the newer digital imaging was available anywhere, but I would think it would be available in most larger metropolitan hospitals as a screening option by now, you just may have to be prepared to pay a little more out of pocket for this type of test.  In my opinion, if you are at higher risk, that money may be totally worth it. 

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Posted in Breast Cancer Prevention by Breast News Girl No Comments Yet